As a non-tech geek, do you have any suggestions for improving the sound quality of my recordings?
There’s something I learned when I started dabbling in photography: when you sit behind the lens, you quit being part of your environment, and begin becoming an outside observer. It ruins the quality of your participation and belonging-ness to the environment. My advice is “put down the recorder and be engrossed in the experience of Mass”.
he laughed and said, “What if I preach heresy?” Even though it was through laughter, it was a somewhat serious question and he did consider the implications before he finally gave permission. There have actually been a couple of occasions in which I have opted not to post the homily because I was concerned that someone not from our close-knit parish might misunderstand what Father was saying. Another time, he clarified something from his homily at the end of the liturgy and I was worried that someone might not hear the clarification.
Right – these last two were what I had been thinking about: the homily is preached not to an audience or a readership, but to a congregation at Mass.
A homily is that, but I don’t believe it is limited to that.
Perhaps. Yet, outside the context of Mass, it’s no longer a homily – it’s a speech, or an essay. Homiletics has its own context, its own milieu; that means that, when divorced of its proper place, it becomes less than it was intended to be. A Knute Rockne pep talk, recorded or written down, may still be inspiring – but it’s not what it was intended to be, nor is it “all it can be” when encountered in a different context.
It must be understood in the context of a particular time and place, but it not only useful for that particular time and place.
I can buy that… but yet, it’s not completely accurate. After all, the art of homiletics allows for readings and writings to be utilized
in service of the homily, in ways that wouldn’t be attempted outside the homily. So, it could lead to misunderstandings – listeners outside the proper context might misunderstand that a general teaching on a piece of Scripture is being given, when in fact, a particular aspect is being brought to the fore. Especially in the realm of Scriptural interpretation, there might be misunderstandings that are generated when a person encounters a homily as if it were a lecture or essay.
I strongly disagree with this last statement. We study the homilies of the Church Fathers even today. They are both applicable and relevant and thank God they have been preserved for us so that those of us who were not there can benefit from the teaching of these great saints even today. Yes, they have stood the test of time and been preserved through the ages because they are extraordinary works from extraordinary teachers.
And, if you were recording an Augustine or a Gregory the Great, I’d be inclined to accept your argument. As it is, there were thousands of homilies even back then that weren’t recorded (and probably, didn’t deserve to be) – just as today, there are millions of homilies that don’t rise to the standard of an oration by Augustine. If you were recording the homily of a Church Father, then I’d be amenable to your take; if you were recording a homily that was primarily catechetical in nature, then I might agree; if you were recording an ‘extraordinary work from [an] extraordinary teacher’, then I’d understand. But, chances are, you’re not: you’re recording a good homily from a good priest who’s speaking to a particular congregation in a particular lived context at a particular time and place. Is the homily edifying for you? Yep. Does it rise to the level of an oration by Augustine? Umm… probably :nope:
